I was late getting flowers out this year.  Because time and finances were allotted to other areas, I had to neglect that little luxury--but God is good, and He has turned that around, in the way He always does so well.  Because summer school has ended and the rains have finally come, I have had time to get out and do some yard work, but I didn't have any flowers for my empty planters--and, I really wanted some flowers!  Funny how something as simple as  vibrant blooms can totally change the look of a scorched yard!

Yesterday, driving home from a workshop in Arkadelphia, I noticed this little hardware store with a huge sign out front, announcing their plants were on sale for 50% off!  Right there . . . right there were my flowers, just waiting for me to bring them home and set them out in my barren planters, which I did promptly and purposefully.  Finally! My front porch looks vibrant and alive.

This morning, reflecting on what just a few blooms will do to lighten perspective . . . The Lord used those blooms to speak to my heart.  Simply enjoying the ease of His Presence, I marveled at the difference in me.  Where did it come from?  Is it a product of something I did . . . something I finally got right? Nope.  Can't be me.  Absolutely, without question, it is NOT a product of anything I did.  Grace--unearned, can't be manufactured or created by me. He whispered a little metaphor to me to help me understand the difference between "doing" and "being." 

Consider a rosebush growing in a desert.  She wants to bloom, so she does everything she can to produce beautiful roses.  She thinks all day long about what it takes to be a beautiful rose bush; she spends her energy and her focus preparing for beautiful blooms, learning all she can about beautiful blooms, working her roots trying to stir up the soil, straining as hard as she can to make rose buds appear--yet she remains a rosebush growing in a desert trying to make herself bloom.

Then the Master Gardener appears, and He touches her leaves and reminds her that she is a royal rosebush.  All she has to do is be who she is and focus on what He does and who He is, not what she can or should be doing.  He brings her living water and specially selected fertilizer.  Then, with tender care and pruning, He begins to work on her.  When she stops thinking so hard about being a rosebush and stops trying so hard to create her own blooms, she realizes that she can rest.  She realizes that she enjoys what the Gardner does and that it is A GOOD THING to be a royal rosebush growing in a desert, with or without blooms.  BUT . . . the more He works on her, the blossoms begin to appear.  Such is the way of the Master Gardener.

Thank you, Jesus!  Thank you for wearing a crown constructed of thorns from this rosebush so that she might bud roses that reflect YOUR GRACE AND BEAUTY!

The wilderness and the solitary place shall be glad for them; and the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.  It shall blossom abundantly and rejoice even with joy and singing.  The glory of Lebanon shall be given unto it, the excellency of Carmel and Sharon, they shall see the glory of the Lord, and the excellency of our God.
Isaiah 35:1-2

What an amazing God we serve!  He calls us by name and lifts us out of the pit of our own selves and places within us a desire to do exactly what He calls us to do.  As we go, He gives us the abundant joy of knowing Him and being fully committed to a purpose for which we were specifically and wonderfully designed. That’s amazing to me!  What we think we are doing for Him, He’s really doing for us.  That, my friend, is the secret to evangelism.  When we go out and share the Love of God that He has shed abroad in us, what we discover is that we aren’t simply doing it for others or for Him—we are actually accepting the gift that He has freely given to us.  What is evangelism but a blessing and a gift, straight (as my pastor would say) out of the cool part of Heaven?  Think about it.  A Holy God chooses foolish us to go out into the world and be salt and light.  He doesn’t need us, but He chooses to use us, and in the using, He transforms us, giving us everything we are so hungry to find! 

            Another thing that amazes me about God is how He keeps His Word, using everything in our lives to work together to get us to that place where we are willing to believe we are fully equipped and capable of fulfilling His purposes for us.  Funny, we think we’re the ones doing all the work, but it is He who worketh in us both to will and do His good pleasure. In my foolish wanderings, struggling so hard to come into agreement with God about who I am in Him because of Christ in me, He has always proven faithful.

            He led me to an opportunity that I thought was one thing, but that is actually much larger than I—just as He is.  While pursuing a desire to exercise my voice as writer, He led me to a website (www.faithwriters.com), where a writing challenge opened up the way to yet another website (www.ptl.org).  This site, created by The Pocket Testament League, is wholly dedicated to promoting Christ through the distribution of the gospel of John. John said about Jesus:  “In the beginning was the Word and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.”  (John 1:1, KJV) We cannot give people personal belief or salvation, but we can give them Jesus in the form of the Word of God, specifically designed to fit first in our pockets and then in theirs.  True, there is much more to evangelism than simply handing out tracts, but what a great way to begin!  The website itself offers free evangelism training, evangelism tools, and free daily devotionals, but I think the greatest thing it offers is an opportunity to accept a challenge and to take God at His Word—that it NEVER returns void.